Bond 25: The annoying Monica Bellucci edition

Monica Bellucci during filming of SPECTRE.

File this under “A” (for annoying) and under “C” (for “click bait”).

Back on Oct. 14, the Mirror tabloid ran a story saying that 007 actor Daniel Craig wants Monica Bellucci, who had a very small role in 2015’s SPECTRE, back for Bond 25.

An excerpt:

One insider told us: “He wants Monica Bellucci back, that’s for sure.”

Monica made headlines as the oldest Bond girl ever when she appeared, aged 51, as Lucia Sciarra, widow of a notorious assassin.

The problem? The Mirror earlier ran a story in July claiming Bond 25 would be based on a Raymond Benson novel, despite making no attempt to talk to the one-time 007 continuation novel author.

You’d think that would give people pause before citing the Mirror story on Bellucci. But you’d be wrong.

A site called The List ran with it, citing the Mirror. Forbes.com, citing The List, did likewise.

Earlier today, Variety got into the act.

“Bellucci’s agent told Variety on Wednesday that the actress is neither confirming nor denying rumors that she might appear in the 25th film to feature the suave super-spy, which is scheduled to hit theaters in 2019,” the trade publication said in an online story.

Variety didn’t note how this originated with the Mirror, the publication with the shaky reputation for accuracy.

According to Variety, Bellucci herself was being coy during a Tuesday night event, telling scribes,” I can’t say anything.”

Meanwhile, here’s a question nobody has been asking. If Bellucci really is in the picture for Bond 25 (not a given), would she have to play her SPECTRE character? Or could she pull a Maud Adams and play two different characters in two Bond films?

Another question: Is this a lot of hooey for a movie that, two years before its announced release date, still doesn’t have a distributor to actually get the film into theaters?